Editor’s note: “In case you missed it” is a periodic feature that highlights a story from Global Golf Post’s Monday magazine.
Almost before Xander Schauffele had time to pour a proper celebratory libation into the Claret Jug that he won at Royal Troon and enjoy a big gulp, a new talking point within the professional game had emerged.
With two major-championship victories this year, had Schauffele done what was once unthinkable: tap the brakes on the seemingly foregone conclusion that Scottie Scheffler had locked down his third straight PGA Tour player of the year award before most people had taken their summer vacations?
At the very least, Schauffele’s major-championship success has opened a previously closed discussion, and there’s nothing that talk shows, podcasts and grillrooms like better than a point of contention.
Scheffler still deserves to be the player of the year based on his overall magnificence this year, and were this like most other years, Schauffele probably would be the favorite given the value placed on major-championship success.
This isn’t like most other years, though.
There is a caveat to this, and that’s the fact that the Olympic Games and FedEx Cup playoffs are still ahead. Should Schauffele dominate the closing stretch – let’s say he wins a second gold medal on Sunday and then wins the FedEx Cup one month later – a full reconsideration would be in order.
For what it’s worth, Schauffele plays East Lake, site of the FedEx Cup finale, as if it’s his home course, and if Scheffler maintains his points lead, he’s likely to have just a two-stroke lead over Schauffele when play begins on August 29 in sure-to-be-steamy Atlanta.
What Scheffler has done this year has been exceptional, and it is stacked upon the two previous seasons when he was also voted player of the year by his peers.
Scheffler didn’t ride a hot streak this year. This is who he is.
In 16 tour starts, he has won six times and finished second twice.
He won his second Masters in three years. He became the first player to win consecutive Players Championships, coming from five behind on Sunday. The Players may not have major status, but it’s the next best thing.
Scheffler played in seven signature events and won four of those – the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the RBC Heritage, the Memorial and the Travelers Championship.
That’s more than most PGA Tour players will do in a career. For Scheffler, it was just March, April, May and June.
What Schauffele has done is redefine his place in the game.
Scheffler’s worst finish this season was a T41 in the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, a place where he never seemed comfortable, and he can be excused one flat major. At the Open Championship, Scheffler lurked on the leaderboard throughout but couldn’t make enough putts to have a real chance on Sunday and yet still finished T7.
If you are wondering what the analytics indicate, Scheffler leads the PGA Tour in 27 categories (including strokes gained and strokes gained approach) compared with Schauffele, who ranks first in eight categories (including scrambling and three-putt avoidance).
Two other things stand out in Scheffler’s season: The unfortunate early-morning arrest at the PGA Championship at Valhalla, and his becoming a father for the first time in May. Scheffler handled both with his familiar grace.
What Schauffele has done is redefine his place in the game. For several years, he’s been in the small circle of the game’s best players, but aside from the gold medal he won in Japan four years ago, Schauffele had watched as Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau owned the biggest moments.
This summer, Schauffele has owned them.
There was a sense his moment was coming but until it happens, it’s only a sense. Schauffele understood that and rather than be burdened by what he had not done in an otherwise sparkling career, he kept grinding.
“If you look hard enough, you can always find it,” Schauffele said at the Open Championship. “It’s something, when you feel like you need an extra kick in the butt, there’s several easy ways to motivate yourself. There’s still a lot of things that I’d like to do in my career, and this is a very big leap towards that. The fire is still burning, maybe brighter than ever.”
In the PGA Championship at Valhalla, Schauffele set the all-time major-championship scoring record in relation to par at 21-under. While that may say something about the setup at Valhalla, it says more about Schauffele, who held off DeChambeau and Viktor Hovland at the end.
At Royal Troon, where the golf course and the weather conspired to turn golf into a Harry Potter story, Schauffele played what he called the best round of his life on Sunday, shooting 65 to win the way the great ones do.
He has made 52 consecutive cuts, the longest active streak on tour. Though it’s still more than 90 shy of Woods’ all-time record, it speaks to Schauffele’s consistent excellence.
Think back to the early part of this PGA Tour season and while Austin Eckroat, Peter Malnati and Jake Knapp were winning, there were questions about the top players and why they weren’t winning.
That was a long time ago on the golf calendar.
Now the question is, Scheffler or Schauffele?
The answer is Scheffler – to this point.